With the custodial violence in Birbhum —where a woman was brutalised by the police and given broken fingers and slashed limbs with stinging nettle subbed against her private parts in a night long torture — hitting national headlines, the Mamata Banerjee Government that looked like backing the men in uniform thus far finally had decided to transfer district Superintendant of Police Alok Rajoria, Home Department sources said.
He was likely to be replaced by Rupesh Kumar, sources said. The Government’s decision came even as the victim threatened to hold dharna at the SP office if the culprits including some senior police officers responsible for the midnight abduction-cum-torture were not arrested. “There are a lot of threats and allurements coming in from the Trinamool Congress but we are not going to bow down. Even if my family members step back I won’t”, the woman said adding she would wait for a couple of days and would then start a dharna at the SP office if the culprits were not arrested.
A National Commission for Women delegation led by lalitha Kumaramangalam had visited Sattor in Birbhum a few days ago. The NCW delegation said they had not seen “such brutal assault in our life” and advised the police administration to remain impartial irrespective of which political party ruled the State. BJP leader and film actress Rupa Ganguli on Wednesday visited the victim at the Birbhum village.
Meanwhile, the left parties had threatened a prolonged “battle” including “gherao” of the district police headquarters if the Trinamool Congress supporters involved in stripping naked and brutally assaulting a middle-aged woman at Kultali in South 24 Parganas were not arrested on non-bailable charges. In an encore of the Birbhum incident where a BJP supporter was the victim at Kultali a CPI(M) supporter was stripped and badly beaten up by alleged Trinamool supporters who were then arrested on bailable charges before allowed bail.
In a similar incident a school teacher at Kadwip in South 24 Parganas was brutally beaten up and threatened with murder for allegedly making political statements in front of the students during a Republic Day speech. He had reportedly said that the student-teacher chemistry should improve and that the teachers should not be beaten up as had happened in recent times.